


Stars Aligned and Shattered

by Kaylathebookworm



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28187562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaylathebookworm/pseuds/Kaylathebookworm
Summary: Beginning at the hiatus in Volume 8, Mercury is sent to Vacuo with Tyrian to retrieve the maiden and the relic. During the mission, things don't go as planned, and Mercury discovers some things about himself, such as the fact that he doesn't actually want the world to be destroyed, and that his eyes are silver, not gray. And apparently, silver-eyed warriors are supposed to save the world, not help end it.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! I started another fic!

Flying in an airship with Tyrian Callows was, to put it lightly, absolutely terrible. Especially after he had just revealed that Salem was planning on destroying the world, not just remaking it. What was a guy hell-bent on self-preservation supposed to do with  _ that _ information?

Mercury did  _ not _ want the world to end. He very much liked being alive, and he had fought hard for it. He had learned to fight, learned to kill, and eventually killed his father. He had fought his fair share of personal battles, and if Salem got her way, it would all be for nothing. If the world ended, so would he, and all of that fighting and all of that pain would have been completely pointless.

Mercury scowled out the window, starting to get incredibly pissed at the world. He only cared about two things; protecting himself and protecting Emerald, who was probably the only person on this planet that actually  _ gave _ a rat’s ass about him. Emerald was on some  _ thin fucking ice _ with Salem, and was probably going to get killed if she didn’t change something, if she kept supporting Cinder like she had been.

And  _ apparently _ , everyone was going to die anyway.  _ Fuck _ . So no matter what Mercury did, he was going to die. But the question was, how did he want to spend the rest of his unfortunately very short life? Did he want to work with Salem, the person who was clearly going to win, and take his sorry ass as far as it could go, or did he want to go against her and die a miserable death fighting an unwinnable battle?

Neither option sounded remotely appealing, and Mercury was starting to lean towards option three, which was running away to the middle of the desert and pretending none of this nonsense was happening. If he was going to die anyways, he might as well relax for once in his life.

_ And _ \- he rolled his eyes, glancing at his traveling partner- if he ran away to the desert, he wouldn’t be stuck with  _ Tyrian _ . Seriously, this guy was completely nuts, and way too into murder. Mercury could kill just fine, sure, but it didn’t make him giggle like a fucking schoolgirl. Actually, he was pretty sure that Tyrian ate schoolgirls for breakfast.

Mercury shuddered at that lovely thought and hazarded another glance at Tyrian. The creep had been humming for the whole hour they had been flying, and had an unsettling expression on his face.

Mercury scoffed, attempting to appear nonchalant. “Are we there yet?” he asked in a bored monotone, kicking his feet and hoping that he didn’t sound like a petulant child. But seriously, he could not  _ wait _ to not be two feet from Tyrian Callows.

“Now, now, little one,” Tyrian said in that  _ creepy _ sing song tone of his, “we must have patience and follow our Goddess’s orders.” He accompanied the end of his sentence with a truly terrifying pout and a wave of his  _ lovely _ venomous tail, which had mercury feeling very unsafe.

Alright then. Silence it was. Great.

Mercury slumped against the window and tried to avoid his thoughts. He considered sleeping, but he really didn’t want to let his guard down around Tyrian. He trusted his unfortunate coworker about as far as he could throw the Monstra whale, which is to say, not at all.

He wished that Emerald was with him. It would be significantly more fun, and he would have someone he could annoy without actually getting himself murdered. Of all of Salem’s group, Emerald was the only one who he could hang out with, the only one that he would consider to be anything resembling a friend.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts before they could turn down a road he didn’t want them to go on (again), he decided to review various fight movements in his head. He could fight in his sleep, and he was damn good at it, but he had nothing better to do, and he figured it never hurt to be more prepared for the next fight.

After a few minutes, his body was twitching, wanting to actually follow the steps that he was picturing in his head, but not being able to because he was strapped into this stupid tiny airship. So he had nothing to do and no way to occupy his time for the next several hours. Awesome. Really, couldn’t be better.

On the bright side, at least he was away from Salem and her disgusting army. As interesting as it was to watch kingdoms fall, he had already seen it once, and he thought that might be enough for a lifetime.

Of course, soon enough the whole world would fall, and Mercury would be going with it. Of course, this was only if Salem managed to get all four relics together, right? And as of right now, she only had one, soon to be two.

So now, the only thing standing in the way of the destruction of the whole world was the location of the Beacon relic, which he was sure they would get out of the kid soon enough, and the relic in Vacuo, which Mercury and Tyrian would be working on getting.

Well, one thing was for sure. Mercury was not enthused about this mission. For so long, he had been sure of his place in the world. The stars had aligned, and he  _ thought _ that he was exactly where he needed to be.

Whatever. That was  _ more _ than enough existential thinking for the day. He let his thoughts wander back to running away to the desert, and spent the rest of the annoyingly long flight daydreaming about kicking people’s asses in a sandy wasteland, not making any big decisions, not having to worry about pesky things like morals. It would be nice. And maybe Emerald would join him, and they could run away from all of this shit.

When they arrived in whatever tiny town that they were landing in, it was dark. Mercury stepped out of the airship, expecting to feel like he was standing on the surface of the sun, and jumped in surprise when the air met his skin.

“Why the  _ hell _ is it so cold?” he screeched, activating his aura.

“Awww. Didn’t know that deserts get cold at night?” Tyrian condescended. 

Mercury just glared.  _ No _ , he did  _ not _ know that, actually. He wasn’t exactly a scholar.

Their mission hadn’t even started, but Mercury could already tell it was going to absolutely  _ suck _ .


	2. Chapter 2

Mercury absolutely hated sand. With a burning passion. It wouldn’t take a genius to tell you that sand and prosthetic metal limbs did not mix well together. After walking around for about 2 minutes, Mercury could  _ feel _ the sand getting into all of the crevices in his legs. If he didn’t clean the sand out of them frequently, the metal was going to start to deteriorate, and his legs would stop working as well as they worked now.

So, yeah. Mercury mixed with the desert about as well as oil and water.

It turns out that they didn’t actually know the location of the Summer Maiden, so this trip would be based around  _ finding _ her. And, if possible, restraining her. But mostly just finding her. Fun times.

Not only was the desert  _ freezing _ at night, it was burning hot during the day. Especially the middle of the day, when apparently most of the people in Vacuo would stay out of the sun for a few hours, and markets and such were shut down. 

Of course, that was the time period when Mercury and Tyrian had to meet with their contact.

The sun was  _ burning _ hot. And there was no shade. Whatsoever. Apparently, most of Vacuo consisted of small nomadic settlements. People built tiny huts out of mud bricks and whatever other objects they had with them. The desert was a dangerous place, and with sandstorms, and dangerous Grimm and wildlife, people were always on the move. So they ended up in these tiny towns, except for the people who lived in the city of Vacuo, where the academy was.

Their contact was in some tiny, stupid town that didn’t seem to have a name. If it did, Mercury doubted that anyone would give it to them, anyway. Another fun fact about Vacuo, was the fact that the people there didn’t trust outsiders. At all.

Mercury and Tyrian strode through the tiny town, Mercury struggling to walk on the sand. Tyrian, on the other hand, appeared to be having the time of his life. He seemed to adjust easily wherever they went. Lucky. On the bright side, no one here had any idea who they were, so they could walk freely without having to worry about Red and friends, who were preoccupied in Atlas.

They entered some tiny building, which appeared to be some kind of house. Mercury didn’t know who the contact was, didn’t know how they found this guy, and he didn’t ask.

Their contact was huge. The guy looked like a regular huntsman, with a green mohawk, a huge mace on a chain, and a ton of muscle. He was tall, too, but there’s no way he would stand a chance in a fight with Mercury and Tyrian against him.

Tyrian cocked his head at the man. “So… I heard you have some information for us?”

“Money first,” the man responded gruffly.

Ah. So he was one of  _ those _ people. The kind after money and power. Fun. Mercury tossed the bag of coins at the man, which he caught.

“Alright,” said Mercury. “What do you know?” 

“If you’re looking for someone with a lot of power, then they wouldn’t be in the city. If there’s a target on your back, you’ve gotta keep moving. Your person would be a part of one of the tribes.”

“Great. So the person we’re looking for is somewhere in the desert. Can you tell us any  _ useful _ information?” Mercury rolled his eyes.

“You said that you would be looking for someone powerful, someone who’s stayed under the radar for years. I don’t have anything else to tell you. If I knew where they were, then they would hardly be  _ under the radar _ .”

“So you’re useless to us.” Mercury said.

The man clearly wasn’t feeling threatened. “Whatever. I got my money, I told you what I could. Now shoo,” he waved them away.

Mercury shared a look with Tyrian. This man now knew that they were after the Summer Maiden. And he would say anything for the right price. He had to be eliminated.

Mercury didn’t have any strong feelings about killing this guy. He was an asshole. But he still let Tyrian take the lead. Just because Mercury had learned how to kill, didn’t mean that there wasn’t a part of him that twisted uncomfortably every time he did it. And that part would catch up with him one of these days.

Mercury stood back and watched as the man fell to the floor, aura broken and throat slit, choking to death on his own blood. Mercury winced but shoved down his objections. They were no closer to finding the Maiden. What a waste of a trip. At least they had time.

It may have still been hot out, but it wouldn’t have been wise to be found with a dead body. Mercury watched Tyrian grab something to cover his head with, and he did the same. They started walking, since they had left their airship near the city of Vacuo to avoid suspicion. 

It was a long and terrible walk, but most people out here didn’t have airships. Besides, there would be some other small towns they could stop in on the way, so it’s not like they would just be trudging for days through empty desert.

Mercury still swallowed down the urge to complain, though. Tyrian would just make fun of him, or say something else stupidly unhelpful.

Intense heat  _ also _ wasn’t good for prosthetic legs. Mercury could feel his aura depleting as his legs burned against his skin. On the bright side, he wouldn’t actually feel it unless his aura ran out, and there was no reason for it to- right?

When they finally approached the next settlement, they had been walking for hours in the heat of the day, and Mercury was pretty sure that he was actually dying. He was pretty sure he was actually on fire, and he was about to kill someone for a drink of water. There was sand  _ everywhere _ \- in his eyes, his mouth, his prosthetics, his clothes. It tasted terrible, and was incredibly uncomfortable. Mercury was really missing Vale, and Mistral, and even the Monstra Whale. Anything would be better than all of this sand.

Once they got to the next village, people were out and about again. The sun was no longer at its peak, and the temperature of the air had dropped slightly- from sweltering to still too hot to be comfortable. If all of the sweat on his body hadn’t evaporated from the heat, Mercury knew he would be drenched in it.

Somehow, Tyrian managed to look completely unbothered by it all as they searched for a cool shelter in the marketplace to get a drink and rest. Maybe he was from Vacuo- he was a scorpion faunus after all- but Mercury had never thought to ask, not that Tyrian was likely to give an answer, anyway.

For the most part, other than to purchase their drinks, they avoided talking to the locals. They were here for information, and if these people didn’t have it, then talking to them was a waste of time. Also, they were clearly not from Vacuo, so the likelihood that anyone would even want to engage in conversation with them was incredibly slim.

Mercury sucked down his water like he had just trekked several hours through the desert during the hottest part of the day- which he had. He really didn’t want to be here, but this is where Salem wanted him, and he wasn’t stupid enough to cross her. Unlike other people.

He tried to keep his thoughts off of Emerald. They were continents apart, so his worrying about her safety wasn’t going to be productive. At all. But he still couldn’t help it. She was unsure of where she belonged, and her blind loyalty to Cinder wasn’t going to be enough to keep her alive. He hoped she would make the right choice, the  _ smart _ choice- to keep herself alive. Of course, if Salem really  _ was _ going to destroy the whole world, then working for her would also result in their deaths. There might not be a way to get out of this alive.

Mercury shook his head to clear it. This line of thinking wouldn’t get him anywhere he wanted to go. He just had to focus on what was in front of him.

There was a little girl with green hair in front of him.

_ For fuck’s sake _ , Mercury thought. He vaguely knew about the gods, but he didn’t think that they actually gave a damn about the world enough to be purposely messing with his head, but you never know.

The kid kept running, but he had been trying to get green-haired nuisances  _ out _ of his thoughts, and now they were back. He stood and stretched.

“I’m gonna take a look around,” he told Tyrian, who tilted his head in acknowledgement. 

“Of course, Mr. Black,” Tyrian responded, in that smooth voice of his.

Mercury hated every time he did that. Mr. Black was what his father was called, and Mercury did  _ not _ want to be his father. He really didn’t appreciate the reminder that they were related, or had been, before Mercury had killed that son of a bitch. It brought back too many memories that he didn’t like to think about.

Mercury probably should have saved his strength, probably shouldn’t have been walking around any more than he had to, would probably seriously regret it later, but he had to clear his head. His brain was getting really annoying, and he didn’t even have any way to distract himself.

He approached the edge of the settlement and realized that he had attracted a Grimm. Yay for him. But it  _ was _ the weirdest Grimm that he had ever seen in his entire life.

It was tall, and had four legs, and a weird hump on its back. It also had three heads, making it look incredibly strange. Mercury stood there for a moment to stare at it, perplexed. He had never seen this thing in any other kingdom, and he would hazard a guess that it only existed in this truly amazing place.

The desert just kept getting  _ better _ and  _ better _ .

But, well, he was in Vacuo, and Salem’s protection from the Grimm certainly wouldn’t spread this far. So a fight it was.

Mercury spun and threw a kick into one of the necks with the heel of his foot, smirking as he made impact. As soon as he touched down, he sent his other foot out straight in front of him, hitting the body and sending the creature back. He used his boots to shoot at each of the three heads, causing it to squawk at him. Getting annoyed, Mercury took a step and threw himself into a forward handspring, slamming his boots into the thing’s faces.

When he got up, Mercury reached up and grabbed the closest head, and pulled it towards him. The other two heads followed, and he brought his foot up high and slammed it down onto the top of the other heads. He threw his knee as hard as he could into the last head, and the thing finally disappeared. He smiled. Fighting always made him feel better.

He strolled back towards where he and Tyrian had been sitting, ready to leave. There was nothing here for them in this tiny town, it was just a stopping place. They hadn’t been there for long, but it had been long enough. It was time to leave Nowheresville, Vacuo, and head to another Nowheresville, Vacuo.

They were heading out of the town in the opposite direction than the one they came in, and had gotten maybe a couple hundred feet from the settlement when the entire ground shook. Mercury barely retained his balance, and even Tyrian looked confused. There was distressed shouting from the town, when suddenly a terrifying shape rose from the ground, far too close to the settlement.

When the  _ thing _ came up from under the sand, it moved everything. The ground shook again, and tons of sand were thrown everywhere.

“What the  _ hell _ is that?” Mercury asked, voice barely above a whisper, trying not to draw the attention of the giant worm that looked like it was about to swallow the town whole.

“That,” Tyrian said, glee in his voice, “appears to be a creature of our goddess’ making. I didn’t know about these, though. It’s beautiful.”

It was definitely not beautiful. Tiny worms were gross, but giant Grimm worms? No. Disgusting. The thing had one red eye and a  _ huge _ mouth, which was surrounded by fangs. It was gigantic, much bigger than anything in the town. Actually, it was probably bigger than the entire town. It was the biggest Grimm that Mercury had ever seen, and it was about to annihilate the entire village. Holy shit.

Mercury stood there and watched, gaping, as the thing reared its giant head, knowing that he should get away from it, knowing that he was much too close to be safe. A small part of him was screaming that he was about to watch a  _ lot _ of people die.

The rational part of him tried to argue that that was on them. If they didn’t want to die, then they shouldn’t have lived out here in the desert with Grimm like that.

_ Defenseless people _ , the compassionate part of him argued, the part of him that he spent his whole life grinding into dust.

_ Shut up, I don’t care _ , the rest of him said, trying not to give the part of him that cared any leeway. He was the son of an assassin, he had been built to kill. There shouldn’t be any part of him that protested this, by this point. But there was.

He knew that he was screwed when he saw a flash of green hair. Green hair that reminded him far too much of Emerald. He couldn’t let Emerald die. He had to protect her. He had to protect the little kid with green hair. He had to  _ do  _ something.

His breath came fast as he saw in his imagination what was about to happen next. The giant Grimm would come down on the settlement, killing everyone instantly. He pictured the kid with the green hair getting crushed by the Grimm. Or worse, being eaten alive.

The screams that reached his ears were starting to sound too much like Emerald’s. He  _ couldn’t _ let her die. He couldn’t. He had to save her from this. He had to save these people.

For a second, everything was clearer than it had ever been. A new path was set in front of him. He could protect these people, or they would die.

Mercury took a breath and the whole world glowed silver.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time Mercury opened his eyes, he felt like he had been hit by a truck. Or five.  
His whole body hurt, but the worst was his head. It was aching, and burning, and it felt like someone had impaled a spear through his brain. He was pretty sure that he was dead or dying, but was unfortunately proved wrong when he cracked open his eyes.  
Mercury winced and swore when he tried to open his eyes and was immediately met with a whole new wave of pain. He felt bile rise in his throat, but he really did not want to throw up. There was no way it would help the situation.  
He cursed again as he found himself tied to a chair, unable to move against the ropes binding him. His head swam with dizziness and pain as he looked around, unsure of where he was or what had happened.  
Everything hurt, he was alone and tied to a chair, and appeared to be in a cloth tent of some kind. His surroundings offered no other information. Great.  
He sighed and sagged forward, trying to undo the knot that bound his wrists to the chair. He was unsuccessful, his hands tied too tightly and in such a position that he couldn’t untie the knot himself. His head pounded as he rubbed his wrists against the rope, groaning as he remained unsuccessful.  
Whatever was happening, whoever had done this to him, all Mercury knew was that he was completely fucked.  
He couldn’t use the gunshot function on his boots, that wouldn’t get him out of this, it would just send him flying, chair and all. He would just have to wait for whoever had tied him up to reveal what they wanted. And hopefully, they would tell him why he felt like he had gotten trampled by an army.  
Mercury sat there for what felt like hours, waiting for something to happen. He thought it might be dark outside, but he couldn’t tell if that was true or if whatever building he was in just effectively blocked out the sunlight. At least the darkness helped soothe his aching head.  
He could feel dehydration starting to set in when he heard the flap of the tent being opened behind him. He sighed in dismay as Tyrian stepped in front of him, tail curling.  
“Well if it isn’t our little enemy,” Tyrian said sweetly. “I had hoped that this little talent of yours wouldn’t come out, as I had so enjoyed our time working together.”  
Mercury was officially confused. “Huh?”  
“You, my dear, are a Silver-Eyed Warrior. This makes you an enemy of our Goddess. Many apologies, child, but unfortunately, I simply cannot allow you to live. But, as I am feeling merciful, I will set you free, and you can go down fighting. I do so love a good hunt,” Tyrian finished, rubbing his hands together.  
Mercury felt his heart drop in his chest. “You’re-you’re going to kill me? After all that I’ve done for Salem?”  
Tyrian sighed forlornly. “It is a tragedy, I had truly started to like you.”  
“But I’m on your side! I have never been anything but loyal!” Mercury protested, the danger that he was in truly starting to set in.  
“Perhaps. But as a Silver-Eyed Warrior, you are a threat to Our Lady. And that simply cannot stand. Apologies, boy. But don’t worry. I’ll give you a thirty-second head start,” Tyrian said, moving forward to cut the ropes that bound Mercury to the chair.  
Mercury almost felt like crying, which was ridiculous- he hadn’t cried since he was an infant. But how else could he even respond to this kind of betrayal?  
Apparently, he had to run for his life.  
His head throbbed in pain with every breath he took, and the thought of standing up, let alone running- sounded a lot like torture. Fighting for his life? He was pretty sure that he was already dead.  
As Tyrian sliced through his bonds, Mercury shook his hands out, the feeling coming back to them in pins and needles. His brain was feeling the same way. He stood, shakily, finally free, and Tyrian started counting.  
“One. Two.”  
Oh shit. Mercury was seriously about to be killed in less than a minute. He had to run. He had to hide. He dashed out the tent flap and into… the desert. Fuck. There was nothing around but the sand and the moonlit sky. There was nowhere for him to run, and nowhere to hide. And he couldn’t get caught. If Tyrian roped him into hand-to-hand combat, he was dead.  
This was not how he pictured his life ending. This was not how he was going to go. Mercury took a breath and circled, shooting rounds off with a kick into the air as he spun. And spun. And spun. He was getting dizzy, but the rounds all crashed down on the tent that Tyrian was inside of, that Mercury himself had just been in.  
The tent exploded, but Tyrian survived it for sure. Mercury took off running into the desert, toward what looked like a settlement of sorts far in the distance, and what Mercury hoped was the city of Vacuo.  
He cursed. He was fast, but Tyrian was, too. Running alone might not save him. Mercury had always been one for more practical moves and direct hand-to-hand combat, but he had seen people do some crazy things to propel themselves through the air, and his adrenaline-fueled brain was starting to come up with some ideas that he was almost sure would never work in reality.  
But there was no time to get creative like when your life was on the line, right?  
Mercury swore again as he saw something move from where the explosion had occurred. Tyrian was coming for him, and if he didn’t do something quickly, he was going to die. He grabbed his head as it spiked with pain, and then, before he could decide that it was actually a terrible decision, he let off a shot from his boots and launched himself into the air.  
And then he kept going. When he started to fall, he shot again, and pushed himself back into the air. It took him a minute to get the hang of it, but he started pushing himself towards the city. It was almost like flying, except terrible, and jarring, but at least it got him away from the serial killer that was hot on his tail.  
After what felt like forever, Mercury finally ran out of patience. He let himself crash into the sand, carving a substantial trail. He groaned, the adrenaline wearing off almost completely. He still felt like shit, and he was getting really thirsty. He just wanted to collapse into the sand and never get up, but that wasn’t exactly a great method for survival.  
So Mercury did what he always does. He got up, and kept going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be longer, but then I got lazy. Thanks for reading! Comments appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

Mercury was exhausted by the time he reached Vacuo. He could feel his aura depleting, and he was pretty sure he was near his breaking point. Whatever had happened with his eyes had caused his aura to take a significant hit, but he wasn’t sure if that was mostly because he was tied up in the middle of a desert or if it was a result of his new powers unlocking.

He was about ready to kill someone for a drink of water, his throat was burning, his mouth parched, his head spinning. He trudged through the twists and turns of the city, having no idea where he was or where he was going. Mercury just kept walking, the places where his bionic legs met his skin aching.

Eventually, he let himself collapse in an alley in a seedy-looking part of town. He physically couldn’t keep walking, and he wasn’t sure he had a reason to. He had always been a survivor, had always just worried about staying alive. But now he had to actually make choices, he couldn’t just keep following orders. It was new, and it was terrifying. Everything that he had thought he had known had just been turned on its head, and now his allies were his enemies.

Deliriously, he had the thought that maybe this made his former enemies his allies. But that was just stupid, right? He had helped orchestrate the Fall of Beacon- he doubted that there would be any help offered to him.

No, Mercury was on his own, a serial killer on his tail. He was completely boned. Screw moral dilemmas, he probably wouldn’t be alive long enough for them to actually matter. He pulled himself onto the roof of a nearby building, wincing as he did so. People tended not to look up, but of course this was Tyrian he was dealing with, not some amateur. At least the roof was a slightly better place to die than the ground. And maybe, just maybe, Tyrian would take ages to find him in this chaotic city. Mercury swore as he realized he just might end up dying of dehydration at that point.

He pushed himself off of the roof, too tired to land correctly, and just letting himself collapse to the ground. He didn’t even care enough to wince as the air was knocked from his lungs. Mercury pulled himself sloppily to his feet, and trudged into what appeared to be a bar of some kind. He just needed water.

Mercury walked to the bar and asked for a water, leaning against the counter, barely able to keep standing. A glass was put in front of him after a minute and he chugged it, instantly relieved. He motioned for a refill and sighed, awareness already seeping back into his mind. If he was going to survive Tyrian, he needed to find somewhere safe, maybe a place to lay low for a little while.

He sipped at his second glass and groaned. The only place that he knew of that could be considered any kind of sanctuary was… Shade Academy. It was probably the giant, pyramid-looking building that towered over the rest of the city. On the bright side, he didn’t really know anyone there. He was sure it would be fine… right? But even if it wasn’t it’s not like he had any other options. He had a mass murderer chasing him, he had been deemed an enemy of Salem’s, and he had nowhere else to go. He  _ could _ , in theory, run off into the desert and join some nomadic tribe, but for some reason that didn’t sit quite right with him.

Actually, maybe that would be a better idea. Tyrian might expect him to stay in the city, and would never be able to check every single tribe for him, not while he was searching for the Summer Maiden.

Yeah. Mercury could stay relatively safe, he could keep himself alive, and no one would ever find him. He was a survivor to the core, and if he kept running, his chances of survival would be much higher.

_ Unless _ , of course, that’s exactly what Tyrian would expect him to do.  _ Fuck _ . It probably was. There was nothing logically keeping Mercury in the city of Vacuo, and it would make more sense for him to run. So if he wanted to stay alive, he should do the thing that makes no sense at all, and stay in the city.

Ugh. Being the person to make plans sucked. Mercury was pretty smart, but he wasn’t used to being prey. He had learned to survive his father, but Marcus had never chased him across a continent, only beat him constantly. And that was a different kind of surviving altogether. Marcus Black hadn’t been trying to  _ kill _ him, just raise him into an assassin while also providing an outlet for all of his aggression. 

Killing his father had been the most difficult fight of Mercury’s life, but trying to kill Tyrian would be just as hard, if not harder. Shit. Everything had been  _ fine _ , relatively speaking, and then his eyes decided that he had fancy magical powers, and everything had fallen apart. 

Finishing his second glass of water, Mercury placed it back on the bar, and made himself small, ducking into the crowd and walking out the door confidently, like he didn’t owe them any money. He left and just kept strolling through alleyways, walking farther into the city, hoping he had found a decent place to hide. He just had to keep moving, to immerse himself into the underground of the city, and then Tyrian would never find him.

Mercury tensed as he suddenly felt eyes on him. He kept walking, trying to pretend he hadn’t noticed, while simultaneously straining his senses, attempting to detect any abnormalities, the movement of a shadow, the skittering of sand behind him. He refused to be caught unawares. Mercury was technically an assassin, damnit. He wouldn’t go down easy.

He slid into a fighting stance as someone jumped out in front of him. The shape was much too large to be Tyrian. Mercury sighed in relief. Whoever it was, he could probably take them.

Another figure, a much smaller one, stepped to his right. If they were trying to corner him, they weren’t doing a very good job. He could easily back up. But he wouldn’t deny these strangers a fight, if that was what they were looking for.

Mercury let a cocky smirk slide onto his face. All of his problems were irrelevant in the face of a fight with some randoms in an alleyway. “So,” he said. “Did you actually want something? Or am I just going to beat the shit out of you?”

“Well,” said the second figure, “as much as I would appreciate round two, I was hoping that you would come with us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I am SO excited for the next chapter !!! Hopefully, it'll be way longer  
> Also, more comments= more incentive to update :D  
> enjoy!


	5. Chapter 5

Mercury let his eyes slide over the faces of the two hunter trainees who he and Emerald had humiliated in front of the entire world during the Vytal Festival. “And why the hell would I go with you? I’m doing just fine on my own. I wouldn’t mind another fight, though, but you know that you don’t have a chance.”

Yatsuhashi Daichi narrowed his eyes. “You look like you’ve seen better days.”

Mercury shrugged. “Yeah? What’s it to you, buddy?”

Coco Adel scoffed at him. “Dude. You’re alone, running through the streets of Vacuo, and you look like you’ve been traveling through the desert for a month. Come with us to Shade Academy. We can help you, and you won’t be alone anymore.”

“I’m fine. You have no idea what you’re talking about, or what I’ve been through. Just leave me alone. We can part ways, and you pretend you never saw me,” Mercury said. He really didn’t need this right now. He needed to keep sharp, to make sure Tyrian didn’t find him, because he couldn’t trust that he had actually outsmarted Salem’s right hand in any way. Shit, he could be listening in on their conversation right now.

If Tyrian had managed to follow him, then these two were already dead. Mercury didn’t  _ really _ care, but there was already so much blood spilled, and he just wanted to keep running. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to go to Shade, at this point all he really wanted was to find a nice hiding spot to digest the fact that the whole world was about to be destroyed by Salem.

He felt sick, his chest growing tight at the thought. He didn’t have the luxury of time or ignorance, he couldn’t just go to Shade and pretend that his days weren’t numbered, that the entire planet was living on borrowed time.

He couldn’t do this, he couldn’t do  _ any _ of this, he was completely paralyzed by indecision and something that was uncomfortably similar to fear. Mercury didn’t know what to do anymore.

“Woah, are you okay?” Coco asked. “You look pale. And like you’re kind of freaking out. It’s okay, just breathe. Take some nice, deep breaths,” she said, taking a step closer.

Mercury stumbled back. “Stay away from me! This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have come here. You’re already dead, I’m already dead,  _ everyone _ is already dead!” He could feel his heart rate rising, his breathing turning shallow, coming in small, panicked bursts. 

He was a dead man, talking to other ghosts, living in a ghost town. Everything was falling to pieces, there was nothing left. Nowhere was safe, no one was safe, it was only a matter of time before the end came.

Mercury didn’t want it all to end. He  _ liked _ being alive, he wanted Emerald to be alive, he wanted to  _ survive _ , just like he always had, he wanted to go back, to make different choices, he  _ wanted  _ so many things, now, and he would get none of them.

He knew he was distracted, overwhelmed, falling apart. He was tired, and hungry, and everything still hurt, and he was so, so scared. He could feel his concentration slipping, he knew he wasn’t at his sharpest.

It still came as a bit of a surprise, though, when a blow to the head knocked him unconscious. 

Mercury opened his eyes, groggily, to some sort of medical wing. Annoyed and confused, he pushed himself to a sitting position, wracking his mind for the last thing that happened. He had been with Coco and Yatsuhashi in an alley, and then he got knocked out.

_ Shit. _ That could only mean one thing. Tyrian had to have found him.

Was he dead? That didn’t make sense, but Mercury couldn’t figure out how he could still possibly be alive if Tyrian had found him.

Maybe he had been taken back to Watts’ lab for experimentation. 

Whatever it was, Mercury was positive he was in huge trouble. He stood, weight on the balls of his feet, ready to fight his way out of wherever he was. He took stock of possible exits. There was a window to his left, which dropped several stories in a slant. It was bright out, the sun high in the sky, but below appeared to be the city of Vacuo. That didn’t make sense, and Mercury had no idea how much time had passed, but he knew that he had to stay on guard. 

Other than the window, there was what appeared to be an air vent high on a wall, but there was no way he could fit in it, so the only other real exit was the doorway that led into a carpeted hallway.

There was no one visible in the hallway, either, which Mercury found more suspicious than anything. Unless whoever had brought him here intended to hunt him down, they were doing a horrible job of keeping him prisoner.

Gritting his teeth, Mercury crept along the edge of the hallway, glancing around the corner. He was on a high floor, so he would have to find a staircase of some sort. Or maybe he should have just jumped out the window and slid down the side of the building. Then he wouldn’t have to navigate an unknown maze of hallways and… Offices? 

Mercury did a double-take as he passed by what appeared to be a classroom, filled with students. What the hell? 

Okay, so he wasn’t being held in some bizarre prison. He had somehow wound up at Shade Academy. Had those two really gotten the jump on him? He really needed to get his head on straight. That didn’t really change the fact that he needed to escape. He couldn’t go to  _ school _ , Salem was trying to destroy the world! Also, he had helped with the Fall of Beacon, so that kind of made everyone here his enemy.

Did Mercury even have any allies anymore? Emerald was the closest thing he had, and she was half the world away. He was completely screwed and still in danger. As soon as the people here found out what he had done, everyone he had ever met would be hunting him down. The only place that he didn’t have any enemies, that  _ no one _ knew who he was or what he had done, was looking like Menagerie. He could, in theory, run there to spend the rest of his days on this limited planet.

Mercury shook himself from his thoughts, irritated. Trying to deal with the end of the world was really distracting. He crept around the corner, not seeing anyone, except for the kids through the door of a nearby classroom. Luckily, they were all facing the opposite direction of the doorway, and regardless, he managed to duck beneath the window on the classroom door.

He let out a breath and kept walking. He wasn’t a prisoner here, and no one was trying to stop him. He could probably just walk out the front door. Mercury stopped snooping around, despite the fact that he wanted to, hoping to avoid suspicion, in the event that anyone did see him. He would be fine. Leaving would be considerably easier than expected. Mercury put his hands in his pockets and his shoulders back, strolling casually, like he belonged there. Everything was going fine as he descended a staircase a few floors, and he was sure that the front door was almost within his sights. Soon, he would be on the run, again, despite how terrible that sounded, it’s not like being here would be any better. 

Mercury smirked. Finally, a goal. Running wasn’t much of a goal, but it was something.

Turning another corner, Mercury slammed into something. Someone. He stood up and brushed himself off.

“Oh! Sorry, man, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” the other person said, a blond boy with a monkey tail who looked vaguely familiar. He looked up, a smile on his face and his hand extended in greeting.

They made eye contact, and Mercury watched as the boy froze, the gentle smile slipping off of his face. His eyes turned cold, and his face contorted into anger. The boy growled, slipping into a fighting stance. “I recognize you,” he said darkly.

As three other boys joined him, Mercury realized that he was seriously screwed.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always appreciated! Feel free to follow me on tumblr at kaylathebookwormwrites for updates on my fics!! Love y'all!!


End file.
